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Tropical Storm Alex (2016) (Money Hurricane)
Note: Work in Progress. Tropical Storm Alex was a weak, but destructive, tropical cyclone in mid-August of 2016. Alex was the first tropical cyclone and first named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, an annual season of tropical cyclone formation. Alex caused a total of 11 fatalities and $59 million (2016 USD) in damages, mainly due to flooding resulted in Alex's slow movement. Meteorological History Alex formed from a tropical wave that had come off the coast of Africa a week prior to formation. The wave struggled at first as it was moving through the Main Development Region (MDR) due to generally unfavorable conditions, with large amounts of dry air plaguing the area. However, as the wave passed the Lesser Antilles and entered the Carribean Sea, conditions became more favorable for development. Late on August 14, satellite imagery showed that convection has begun to flourish in the wave, and on August 15, the NHC designated the wave as Invest 90L and began monitoring the wave for potential development. A Hurricane Hunter plane investigated the system later that day, but failed to find a closed circulation while the wave was south of Hispaniola. For the next several days, 90L struggled due to high vertical wind shear of approximately 30 to 35 knots. Numerous Hurricane Hunter recons investigated the system, but all failed to find a closed circulation, and most convection was largely displaced from the center of circulation as 90L slowly moved northwestward. Finally, conditions became more favorable for development on August 17, with wind shear decreasing and the environment becoming more moist; and late on August 17, a NOAA Hurricane Hunters reconnaissance investigated the system and found a closed surface circulation, prompting the NHC to initiate advisories on Tropical Storm Alex at 03:00 UTC, the first tropical cyclone, and first named storm, of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season. Alex continued to become better organized, and developed disorganized bands extending outwards from the main convection. At 13:00 UTC, 12 hours after Alex's designation, the NHC stated that Alex has intensified slightly, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, and with a minimum pressure of 1004 mbars. Just an hour later, at 14:00 UTC, a Hurricane Hunters Aircraft Reconnaissance mission found that Alex was actually slightly stronger than originally thought, and in an update statement, the NHC wrote that Alex had further intensified, and now had max-sustained winds of 50 mph, with a minimum pressure of 1000 mbars. This was Alex's peak, and soon after peaking, Alex crawled ashore and made landfall at peak intensity in the Mexican State of Quintanaroo on August 18. After landfall, Alex quickly degraded due to land interaction while dropping large amounts of heavy rainfall on much of the Yucatan Peninsula. 6 hours after landfall, at 20:00 UTC, Alex weakened to a tropical depression, while continuing to move very slowly over the northern Yucatan Peninsula. Overnight, Alex entered the Bay of Campeche, but struggled to intensify due to high vertical wind shear in the area. Alex turned slightly to the northwest, under the influence of Hurricane Kay in the Eastern Pacific. Wind shear began to decrease slightly as Alex continued on its northwestward track, and it breifly reintensified back to a tropical storm, before stalling out, and weakening back to a tropical depression 6 hours later, due to shear as a result from nearby Hurricane Kay's outflow. Remaining nearly stationary, Alex once again became a tropical storm late on August 20. Overnight, Alex resumed its slow northwest forward movement and weakened to a tropical depression, due to land already beginning to take toll on the system. Alex made landfall at 12:00 UTC in the Mexican state of Veracruz. 6 hours later, Alex degenerated to a remnant low over land and advisories were discontinued. Category:Weak Storms Category:Destructive storms Category:Deadly storms Category:Cyclones Category:Money Hurricane Category:2016 Atlantic hurricane season Category:Destructive but weak Category:Tropical storm Category:Atlantic storms